Glen here...
...with Part II of CORDWAINER HAWK's review of four Crusade episodes.
Cordwainer's reviews represent his own feelings and his own thoughts about this new Babylon 5 spinoff series. Having seen all the material he is reviewing (and more), I personally have some substantially different opinions about much of what Cordwainer says, and about the show in general. As such, Cordwainer's review should be seen as Cordwainer's review - and not the official position of Coaxial.
Videotape
Some months ago I reviewed the script for "Racing the Night" You can access that article HERE!
I feel I did a reasonably good job going over that episode in that article and the changes between the script, and the final-polished-ready-for-air episode are only minor alterations. And those alterations are all improvements. (By the way, thank you to the official Babylon 5 Monthly magazine published by Titan in the U.K., for quoting from my first "Racing the Night" review in their issue with Londo on the cover. It’s much appreciated. I enjoy reading your journal every month.)
First things first. There are some internet sites that have the opening credits montage slightly in error. Well, here’s how it really goes:
** Crusade appears in the Crusade font. A sword moves from a vertical position to horizontal, then:
** Excalibur passes quickly through screen moving from the left to the right side of the screen. White letters come on screen, as Galen says, "Who are you?"
** Gary Cole’s name and image comes up as he says, "Matthew Gideon, Captain, attached to the Earth Alliance Starship Excalibur". And we see images of Gideon in action.
** Galen and white letters: "What do you want?" Gideon says over images of the Drakh ships releasing the plague from A Call to Arms, "To find a cure to the Drakh plague before it wipes out every life on Earth."
** White letters and Galen again: "Where are you going?"
** Images of exploration, the crew searching with flashlights in a dark area, Gideon and Dureena in EVA suits, ships landing at the Drazi homeworld space port, other alien, mystical looking vistas as Gideon says, "Anywhere I have to."
** Galen and the white lettering: "Who do you serve? And who do you trust?" A quick shot of the EAS Medusa in orbit of a planet, and then Tracy Scoggins as Lochley standing on the bridge of Excalibur. Some images from "The River of Souls".
** The music takes a turn in tone here, to a more upward rock kind of beat, with strong bass. Lt. John Matheson mouths the words, "fire" and then a shot of the Excalibur firing the big main gun.
** Then Matheson on the bridge walks to Gideon as the name Daniel Dae Kim appears.
** Then comes Max Eilerson played by David Allen Brooks. We see him doing archeology. And looking serious. And a shot of him dancing with Dureena in a club. Dureena does not look like she’s enjoying the dancing all that much.
** Then Peter Woodward as Galen pulls back his cowl.
** Then Marjean Holden as Doctor Sarah Chambers.
** And then finally, Carrie Dobro as Dureena Nafeel.
** Excalibur slowly passes through frame as Galen says: "Who do you serve? And who do you trust?" And the words, "Created by J. Michael Straczynski" appears and we fade out.
I think it’s a very cool and beautiful opening credit sequence, brilliantly created by Straczynski/Copeland. I think it’s the best one they’ve ever put together. The music by Evan Chen has a mystical quality that captures the feeling evoked by the images of the show. (This is interesting because he composed the music before they had finished editing the sequence.) And it has a very rock and jazz sounding beat… in fact you might even be able to dance to it. I think Chen’s music is the right music for Crusade, just as Christopher Franke’s music was right for Babylon 5. But, Crusade is a new show, about going to new places, so it needs a new sounding musical style. And Chen has created some incredible music for this series.
Chen makes great use of syncopated rhythms. The music has an up-tempo, but it also has an undercurrent that expresses the desperate nature of their mission, and it expresses a sense of hope. The music carries a feeling of adventure, and discovery. Evan Chen is to be congratulated for this excellent achievement.
Then there is a brief piece of music in-between acts 1 and 2, that serves as music for the "bumper" - a brief appearance of the Crusade sword and DNA logo. Chen composed a brief piece of music for this, which evokes the main theme. And the closing theme music is more up-tempo, and also recaptures the rock tone and epic quest thematic with nicely incorporated syncopated rhythms yet again. (Let’s hope TNT does not ruin it with a credit shrink or annoying voice over. The artist took the time to compose the music; people should be able to hear it. Plus, all the people who worked on Crusade deserve their credit, deserve their names to be seen and they deserve that appreciation for all the hard work they’ve put into the series. So, don’t shrink the credits.)
The visual effects in "Racing the Night" are amazing. The massive alien city, with towering majestic looking buildings. Buildings with a very alien architecture unlike anything I’ve seen on TV SF before. And the shots of Gideon flying on his skimmer bike over the city’s streets are a perfectly executed sequence. Even more so, at the end of act 1, when Gideon is caught in a very exciting chase sequence. (By the way, I think Gideon’s leather jacket is way cool. I want one.) "Racing" is chalk full of great visuals. Wait to you see the way the Starfuries and Thunderbolts launch out of Excalibur. And a massive space battle is nicely orchestrated. Excalibur is an awesome ship.
When I watched "Racing the Night" with my friend Deforest, when he saw the fighters launch he said, "Oh yes!" It’s rather cool.
((Glen Note: Cordwainer is referring to a retractable "rack system" which drops out of Excalibur, spins off multiple space fighters in different directions...))
Deforest is a long time fan of Babylon 5. He’s watched every episode of Babylon 5. He feels Babylon 5 is his ultimate, favorite television series. (And he, like me, does not watch much TV in the first place, since most of what’s on these days, sucks. I mean, I try to catch X-Files and Fraiser every week, but that’s about it.) When we finished watching "Racing the Night",and "The Well of Forever" he said: "This is better than Babylon 5. TNT is insane. They are incompetent."I understand what he means by "better." Crusade is on a more personal level, a more personal quest. B5 was about large events, a large future political history, with personal stories. (And obviously the Sheridan/Delenn story was quite a personal arc of B5.) But, Crusade just feels closer, more intimate. It’s as if with B5 you were in a large concert hall, sitting somewhere toward the middle, and you listened to a grand symphony.
While Crusade often feels like a grand symphony, it’s more like it’s jazz, in a small night club, and you’re sitting right up there close to the stage and really being a part of the music. And I think that’s what Deforest meant.
With Crusade the personal stories, the personal quests of the characters, flow into their overall epic quest.
Plus, every writer and artist should always be improving. I think this is the case with Joe Straczynski, and the production team. His writing is at top form, and the production qualities have never been better. Plus, this is just one hell of a cast they’ve put together.
"Racing the Night" is an action episode. But, it has strong character moments, as well as a great ending scene, that’s just perfect, and will give viewers a sense of… oddity, mystery, and questions… And it should also tell you something about Gideon, and how he gambles, and who and what he trusts… or may not trust.
The actors are all excellent. Some stand out more than others do. Matheson really does not have much to do in Racing the Night, but from what’s there, you can see he is young, learning, and devoted to Captain Gideon.
Dr. Chambers also does not have much to do in this episode, but quickly we find that she’s subtle, and does not care for Max Eilerson all that much. (Other episodes showcase her much more.)
Max Eilerson the IPX archeologist wonderfully played by David Allen Brooks, is a man of incredible intelligence, but little wisdom. Brooks does bring some heart to the character, and makes him oddly likable, even though he’s a greedy bastard. (Based on TNT suits one wonders?) Brooks is clearly an excellent character actor. Even though Eilerson is amoral, he is also rather funny, often with a dry wit. And he is single-minded in his greed. Oddly, he’s becoming one of my favorite characters.
Dureena, the thief, is much like she was in A Call to Arms: Strong willed, and passionate. Her relationship toward Galen is one of interesting conflicts. She wishes to learn from him, but what will she teach him?
Galen commands attention in almost every scene he is in. Peter Woodward is a brilliant actor. Galen will be as popular as G’kar, or Kosh were. Peter Woodward brings real texture and deep humanity to the role of Galen. Like so many British actors, he communicates so much just through his eyes. His deep friendship with Gideon is really at the heart of the series. Galen is a mysterious character. Perhaps he has more secrets than the others do… but they all have secrets.
Captain Matthew Gideon played by Gary Cole is a leader of subtlety. He’s not a screamer. But, he is commanding, in a strong, determined way. He will stand up for his crew, no matter the cost. He will do anything he has to, to get his mission accomplished. He takes risks and he gambles. He’s highly intelligent, and deeply human. And he’s a man seeking faith, seeking something to believe in, and seeking an answer.
He has not decided what he believes in. But he does not like it when innocent people die - it’s almost as if he takes it as a personal insult. He also has his secrets, and his own unique sources of information. Perhaps he’s even haunted to a certain extent. (In "The Well of Forever" he is seen touching a photograph of the crew of the E.A.S. Cerberus. I’m sure his history with that ship will be explored in other episodes.) "Racing the Night" will air as the 8th episode of Crusade.
When the tape rolled forth, after "Racing the Night" ended, "The Well of Forever" came up next. I knew nothing of "The Well of Forever". I had read nothing about it. I never read a script for this episode. I was tabula rasa.
As I said, my friend Deforest watched the episodes with me one night. He gave me his views, as a fellow B5 fan. And he loved both episodes. And he liked "The Well of Forever" even more than "Racing the Night".
On another day, I had my friend Bragi Taliesin come over and watch Crusade with me. (Yes, that’s his name. I live in California after all.)
Bragi has never seen any of Babylon 5. He loves science fiction, but mostly through reading. He especially loves the books of Robert Heinlein. Bragi is also deeply aware of and interested in mythology.
So, first I showed Bragi "A Call to Arms" to set the stage. He liked "ACTA" particularly for Galen, as a Merlin figure.
Then I showed him "Racing the Night". He liked it a lot too. Especially the character moments, and the ending. And he appreciated the SFX, and as a musician he really responded to and relished Evan Chen’s music. Bragi also responded favorably to the intelligent dialogue. Then "The Well of Forever" came next. At the end of it Bragi’s eyes were wide, his mouth agape. He said, "That’s the best thing I’ve seen on television… in I don’t know how long! I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I saw something that good… That brilliant."
I agree with Bragi. Of the four Crusade episodes I’m intimately familiar with, and of the 4 others I have at least passing plot knowledge of, "The Well of Forever" is the best episode of the lot.
"Well" will air 3rd and airs on June 23rd. "Well" was brilliantly written by Fiona Avery. Clearly Fiona Avery is an excellent and gifted writer. And this is one amazing and emotional episode.
But, I can understand why TNT may not have liked this one. No one fires a weapon. No fighters are launched. Nothing gets blown up. There’s no wrestling. There is actually some sex, but it may not be exactly what TNT wanted or had in mind. Even Galen says "Well, that was not quite the first contact scenario I had envisioned."
But, what does this episode have?
Heart, soul, and emotion. That’s what it has. Act 4, is a pure work of beauty. The writing, acting, the visuals, and the music come together and make art, amazing art.
I’m not going to overly spoil this episode for you. You just have to see it. But, the basic plot is this: Galen convinces Gideon to go on an arduous, many days journey through hyperspace to find The Well of Forever. A crossroads Galen says, like Stonehenge or the Oracle at Delphi. Gideon is not convinced easily and Max especially thinks it will be a waste of time. But Galen tells them that there could be valuable information there that could be useful in their search for a cure to the Drakh plague.
So, Gideon agrees to go. Also since Galen is going to merge his personal flyer’s navigation system to Excalibur’s Gideon thinks it’s a good chance to get a sneak peak at Technomage technology. Gideon and Dureena know Galen is not telling them everything about his reasons for wanting to find the well. But, Galen and Dureena both decide they trust Galen. But, how far will Galen go to achieve what he wants? What is he willing to sacrifice to find the well? The answer is… everything. Why… becomes the question.
Meanwhile, Lt. Matheson has a guest on board, Mr. Jones who is a "Watchman", a telepath. Watchmen work for the "Senate committee on meta-sensory ability" (but I presume the Watchmen are head quartered on Mars, or perhaps the moon, or some other Earth colony.) He’s on Excalibur to exam Matheson, with a deep mind scan. Matheson must submit to deep scans every 6 months to check to see if Matheson, who is also a telepath has done any illegal scans of others. This is the new arrangement since Psi-Corps has been disbanded. Telepaths can do any job they want to achieve, but they must submit to the scans every 6 months to check up on them, to make sure they are integrating into normal society properly.
Mr. Jones is not a nice guy, and Jones invades Matheson’s privacy when doing the scan, and threatens Matheson’s career. And in this episode, I discovered that Matheson is an excellent and interesting character. Plus, Daniel Dae Kim is really an excellent actor. This is one cool character, also emerging as one of my favorites. And the relationship between him and Gideon is close, deeply and mutually loyal. There’s clearly a deep friendship between the two. Perhaps Matheson looks up to Gideon as a mentor, or older brother. And Gideon protects Matheson like a younger brother and loyal friend. (By the way, this was the first Crusade episode I’ve seen with the new, permanent, black Excalibur uniforms, and they are way better. Quite an improvement. Plus this episode shows off the new sets, and gym and they are impressive sets.)
So, another cool element of "The Well of Forever" is watching how, and to what lengths Gideon will go to, to protect his first officer. Gideon trusts Matheson, and Matheson trusts Gideon. "Who do you trust," is a major theme in this episode.
But, when Excalibur finds The Well of Forever…and in act 4, we find out why Galen wanted to find the well so much. …I encourage all of you who want to see this episode, to avoid the spoilers. All I want to tell you is that you will learn a great deal about Galen. And you will experience an emotionally moving sequence, which is devastating in its power. (It’s hard to find something to compare it to, but elements of "The Well of Forever" are on the same emotional level as parts of "Sleeping in Light". Perhaps not at the "Sleeping in Light" level, but reaching toward that level.) Another mythical element of this glorious forth act, is that you will find a lot of Celtic mythological themes. And Galen even mentions Nordic Runes. It’s intelligent, spiritual, and astoundingly emotional.
In the tag of the story, Matheson has a great scene, which shows you the level of trust between Matheson and Gideon. And in the gym set, as Gideon exercises, Galen comes to talk to him, about what they’ve just been through.
Their conversation is incredible. It’s at such a level of intelligence, and deep truth… And that conversation ends with one hell of an emotional punch, which really expresses what it is to be human, as Galen and Gideon discuss their mutual crime.
I was personally blown away by it. A final scene between Galen and Dureena closes up the story. Galen had told them the well would answer their questions. Dureena wants to know how it did so. Again, another great piece of writing, and acting, as Galen describes how Max Eilerson, Matheson, Gideon and Dureena got answers to their questions.
Dureena asks, "What about you, did you get your answer to why?" Watch the episode. Watch Galen’s answer. Watch his face as he moves off screen, and the episode fades out.
It’s brilliant, it’s moving, and it’s so human.
"The Well of Forever" was written by Fiona Avery, and directed by Janet Greek. Congratulations to both are in order. Also, in this installment Evan Chen’s music reaches emotional highs that are immensely touching.
After this episode you will find yourself asking questions, questions to you, and about yourself. But, you will also want to ask questions to TNT. Or at least one question to TNT: Why? Why don’t you appreciate this series? Oh, that’s right, I forgot TNT is soulless. And that’s why. "The Well of Forever" is one amazing piece of work and art. I've watched it countless times now, and each time it does not fail to move me.
Closing
In the end, musician Robert Fripp said it best: "Committees are stupid, and the death of the creative process. …Any culture whose artists are directed or controlled by commercial interests is in mortal danger."
Because of TNT, and others with their mentality, I fear our culture - such as it is - really is in mortal danger.
JMS is to be congratulated for sticking to his principles, for not giving in to TNT’s egregious demands and for not selling out, or selling his soul. He stayed true to himself and his vision for Crusade.
One falsehood often ascribed to JMS is that he does not want to alter or improve upon his writings. Horse shit. He’s more than willing to make changes, as long as they are changes he sees fit to make.
An episode changes from the script, to the production, to the editing, and the final post work. It’s all about rewriting and refining the creation. That’s a process every artist goes through. What JMS is opposed to is incorporating bad ideas into his creation… ideas that come from a corporate committee that knows nothing about art, literature, or creativity. They get their so-called "ideas" from focus groups, surveys, and market research. Imagine if Shakespeare or Van Gogh had to deal with that. TNT should have acted as a patron.
They should hire the artist, and then leave the artist alone, to work and create only to the sound of his own heartbeat. JMS said he’d give you an action/adventure drama series. He did so. Why interfere with his creation?
Does he interfere with your corporate budgets? Does he tell you what stocks to buy? Does he give you his opinion on your mergers? Does he check in and see how much money per month you suits spend on prostitutes? No, I don’t think he does.)
Most other producers and production companies would have given in to TNT, in order to keep them happy, and keep making money. Most others would have sold out for green. JMS didn’t. John Copeland didn’t. Babylonian Productions didn’t. They are an island of ethics surrounded by a sea of sharks.
And their vision, Crusade, is a brilliant, intelligent, entertaining, emotionally moving, and an utterly compelling creation in terms of its plots, but most especially in the form of the characters. They are each quite interesting and touching in their own unique ways.
They are intelligent, flawed, feeling, conflicted, and deeply human…
Yeah… I understand why TNT does like this show. Sadly, I do.
I hope Crusade gets more than 13 episodes. A journey has begun, and I hope it gets to continue. But, this show is too good not to continue, one hopes.
Tune in to it on June 9th. (Especially if you are a Neilson family.) And after you see it, write to Warner Bros. and the Sci-Fi Channel. If you want to spend a few bucks on a print advertisement, I don’t see any harm in it. After all don’t the suits claim they are only giving us the TV we want? Well, if you want to see a cool, intelligent SF series about grand quests then you should let them know what you want.
Because in the end, everything comes down to who we are, what we want, who and what we serve, and whom we trust.
Why? …There’s that question again.
Perhaps these are questions TNT suits, and advertising slaves don’t want to think about in their lives, their lives in service to greed and money.
As Dureena says, "it’s nice to know that some people care about things other than money or power." And the writers, crew, and brilliant actors of Crusade took the time to create something worthy of our time, attention, and praise. They created something fun, entertaining, interesting, intelligent, and artistic. And all TNT could do was spit upon them.
Something is wrong.
But, Crusade gives me hope, that perhaps sometimes things can be all right. And maybe for once the good guys can really win. In the end Crusade really is about hope. And in a time like this, we need messages of hope more than ever. So, in the spirit of Crusade, let’s hope for new beginnings, and a new home for this excellent series.
